Financial institutions, such as banks, typically provide financial statements, such as bank statements or account statements, to customers. A financial statement typically contains a summary of financial transactions which have occurred over a given period on an account held by a customer with a financial institution. The financial statement can be printed on one or several pieces of paper and mailed to the customer's address. Although there has been a shift toward paperless, electronic statements, many people still prefer paper statements to online statements for several reasons, such as difficulty in managing overflowing email in-boxes and lack of technical competency.
Financial statements delivered in mail can be exposed to a risk of identity theft when the statements are lost or stolen. Financial statements typically contain personal information, such as a customer's name, address, and account information, which can be fraudulently used by an identity thief.